Family Vacation 2014: Disneyland

We love Disney. I know it's not for a lot of people, but we always have a good time and make lots of good memories so we decided to squeeze one day at Disneyland into our trip. 

We packed light and didn't bring my camera so we only had Jeff's iPhone. The coverage of the day was a little sparse. We did manage a few gems, though.

Gotta love Splash Mountain.

Disney is exhausting! This was taken while we were waiting for our lunch reservation at The Blue Bayou.

During our awesome lunch. You can kind of see the "bayou" in the background. It's also the beginning of Pirates of the Caribbean.

Watching a parade. Crowds, much?

Anna loved the new Pixie Hollow.

Small World selfie.

We finished the night on Star Tours. It was Isaac's favorite.

Other memories made:

Ben was endlessly entertaining on rides. He finished each ride in a high pitched voice, "It's not scary! See, it's not scary!" Also, his facial expressions on rides are the best. 

Fritters and Mint Julieps. Yum!

Isaac was so excited to ride Indian Jones but was too short. He was sad, but handled it like a champ. Jeff and I may have been more bummed out about it then he was.

Favorite Rides:

Ben-Winnie the Pooh

Sam-Snow White's Scary Adventure ("That scary witch one.")

Isaac-Star Tours

Anna-Indiana Jones

Jeff-Mr. Toad's Wild Ride

Rach-Indiana Jones and Storybook Land

Family Vacation 2014: Balboa Island

Sunday afternoon we rolled into Newport Beach. Our vacation just happened to overlap with Larry and Marlene's 40th Anniversary getaway to California. We met up on Balboa Island for dinner and exploring. 

The harbor was gorgeous and it was a lot of fun to watch the huge yachts come in and out. 

This was the first sighting of beach on our trip. The kids were thrilled even though it was only about four feet wide.

Despite being a tiny beach, there were lots of shells. 

The kids loved walking up the lazy main drag and looking in all the shop windows. 

 

You must get a Balboa Bar when on Balboa Island.

We ate at a cute little Italian restaurant, Amelia's. Ben insisted on buttering his own bread. The restaurant was nearly empty (it helps when you decide to eat at 4:00pm), which was perfect for our little crew.

 

We also spent some time swimming at our hotel. The kids were in heaven.

Such a fun afternoon and evening. 

Family Vacation 2014: SUU

The bi-annual Black Family Reunion was held in San Diego this year. It was fun to plan a big family road trip to get there. We've never really done that before. There were some really fun things about it and some...less fun things about it. 

One of the more fun (funner?) things we did was on the first leg of the drive. We stopped at my alma mater, Southern Utah University. I have not been on campus since I graduated nearly twelve years ago. (How is that even possible?!)

Jeff also attended SUU one semester before his mission and one after, so the nostalgia was flowing heavy.

The first stop was the Sharwan Smith Student Center. I wanted to stop by the bookstore and get some new apparel, but it was closed. (We did end up stoping back on our way home and picking up a few things.)

Here's Ben, ever in charge, showing us the place. 

We stopped by this commons area where I used to eat lunch and study regularly. I worked in the admissions office in this building.  Also, love love love the red rocks of Southern Utah. 

The library. I also had a job here. It was closed as well. Anna was disappointed. She loves a good library. 

This is the new clock tower. It wasn't yet built while I was attending, but what a great addition to the campus. I didn't get a picture of the new education building that is adjacent to it, but it's great as well.

Upper quad.

Old Main. This was the main education building when I was on campus and I had A LOT of classes here. The building is over one hundred years old. 

One of the gorgeous red rocks so common to the area.

I think I took one business class in all my time at SUU,  but Isaac wanted his picture here so, there you go.

 It seemed to me that everywhere we turned some memory would take hold of me. The hundreds of times I walked from lower campus to upper campus. Writing papers in the ELC (Electronic Learning Center, aka computer lab). Giving tour after tour of campus as a part of my duties as a Student Ambassador. Writing letters to Jeff all over campus while he was on his mission. Playing night games on the quads. Going to gymnastic meets. Meeting friends for lunch in the student center. Going from one job, to classes, to another job and then back to the library to study until late at night. So many great and hard times. 

I loved my years in college. I hope the kids caught a little bit of that fire while we hiked around. One day when they are ready to go off into the world, I really hope that they find a little corner that nurtures their education and gives them a place to grow into the person they want to become. SUU was definitely that for me. 

Father's Day 2014

We sure love this guy!

Farm Land

We traded our mountain view in Utah for a farm view in Idaho. Across the street from our house are several acres of farm land. It's beautiful in its own right, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss our mountains. (They are here too, just a little farther away.)

The kids love to watch the massive sprinkler system slowly creep across the fields. One day they finally got up the courage to run through them. 

I wasn't too happy to see them in the field (I'm sure our neighbor wouldn't have been too happy either if he saw them running through his crop), but it was just too pretty not to get a few pictures.

The kids are under strict orders to stay out of the crops from now on. The dirt, though, is another story.

We are on the very edge of the Idaho Falls City boundary. Across the street and further south is all county property until the next little town pops up. I do love driving across irrigation ditches and through farm land to go into "town" and back home again. 

The few neighbors we do have are lovely and have been very welcoming and kind.  The city seems to be a pretty ideal size. It feels as though we are in the country in many ways, but we are just minutes away from shopping, downtown, the temple and many other conveniences. 

Back on the Grid

After a year and a half we have a computer! I'm optimistic that I can once again get on the ball with organizing and sharing our family pictures.  (Although, I make no promises!)